north carolina, virginia and maryland are all on the highest level of alert as the east coast braces for the arrival of hurricane earl. even a slight shift in the projected path of what experts are calling an impressive, massive storm could spell disaster for the eastern seaboard. nbc's kristen dahlgren has the latest from north carolina's outer banks. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. well, there's been so much talk about where earl and its eye is going to track, and the bottom line this morning is it may not make that much difference because the hurricane-force winds extend out 90 miles from the center. tropical storm force winds out 200 miles from the center. so, along much of the coastline, things about to get much worse. as darkness fell on the carolina coast, earl strengthened, bringing with it powerful waves but also uncertainty. >> earl's a big unknown. if it stays out to sea, we probably would have been okay and gotten rain. >> reporter: do you board up? >> i haven't yet to this point, but this might be the first. >> reporter: but officials warn that the slightest change coul